A CRISP Approach for EarthCube: Collaborative Resource Incubators (CRI) for a Sci-Tech Portfolio

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This document recommends a new overarching process and fundable organizational units that would move EarthCube forward through the formation of multi-investigator sci-tech efforts called “Collaborative Resource Incubators” (CRIs). These incubators are driven by science-focused cyberinfrastructure needs expressed by the community following the first few years of EarthCube activities which are not well-served by current EarthCube funding mechanisms. CRIs are jointly conceived by scientists and technologists drawing from existing ideas and resources, resulting in a portfolio of possible sci-tech projects that could be undertaken by the EarthCube program. This CRI Sci-tech Portfolio (CRISP) enables a process where projects are prioritized by the community, and leads to proposals submitted to NSF for peer review and potential funding. The overall process described herein allows projects to be long-lived collaborations open to volunteer contributions, and to progress over time from innovative concepts to mature infrastructure solutions. CRIs build on existing EarthCube funded projects and also integrate the extended resources available from the broader geosciences and cyberinfrastructure communities. The proposed CRISP process and its associated CRI funding mechanism represent a novel approach to pursuing science-driven community infrastructure, charting a practical path to address major goals of the EarthCube initiative.

EarthCube is a collaboration between the Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (ACI) and the Geosciences Directorate (GEO) of the US National Science Foundation (NSF). For official NSF EarthCube content, please see: http://www.nsf.gov/geo/earthcube/.